Italian Secret
by Thalia-Saran
Summary: Tony has a secret daughter, what will the team so when they find out? Will they help him or laugh at him? What will life be like with Mia DiNozzo who seems to have inherited the DiNozzo troublemaker gene!
1. Meet Mia DiNozzo

a/n: yes I know I have two other stories on the go! :) unfortunately I am suffering from a serious case of writers block :( if you have any ideas please pm me!

Anyway this is a new story, I know you've heard it all before but here is my take on Tony having a secret daughter

Disclaimer: obviously I don't own ncis or I wouldn't be writing this

Rule #4: The best way to keep a secret? Keep it to yourself. Second best? Tell one other person - if you must. There is no third best.

Tony DiNozzo had a secret. A big secret. Unusually for him it wasn't a secret he was ashamed of. In fact, quite the contrary, the secret was possibly the thing he was most proud of in his entire life.

The secret itself was a girl. Once upon a time there had been two girls but the first had been cruelly taken away from him. The second secret however was alive as could be; alive, loud and kicking. Mia Isabella DiNozzo, his 6 year old daughter.

Since her mothers sudden death 6 months ago Tony had had his hands full looking after Mia. Unfortunately for Tony, Mia had inherited Tony's aptitude for troublemaking and when left with a bored babysitter she took great pleasure in preparing jokes not only on Tony but on the unsuspecting babysitters! Normally Tony would find this hilariously funny, but when he came home to find snails in his bed after a gruelling case he was less than thrilled. In all honestly though it was his own fault, he had spent many of his scarce hours of 'home time' teaching Mia tricks to play on his late wife, now though with no mother to trick the joke fell on Tony. As Mia's mother would have said, "that's karma!".

Savannah DiNozzo had been killed in a car accident shortly after Tony came back after being as agent afloat. After crying out for any help he could find, he found help in the form of Savannah's younger sister Maria. Married with two children of her own, Maria stepped in to take Mia to and from school, to feed her and when necessary provide her with a bed to sleep in. Tony would never have survived without her. Before she had died Savannah had almost single handedly looked after Mia during weekdays, Tony had looked after her on weekends but his crazy schedule meant that he and Savannah rarely got alone time. Somehow though, their family still worked and Tony was determined that even after Savannah's death Mia would still have a family that was secure.

Consequently, Tony and Mia had become an extended part of Maria's family, Tony and Maria's husband Dan had plenty in common, Dan was navy mechanic and just as interested in football as Tony, Maria's twins Francesca and Jamie were only a year older than Mia meaning that she always had someone to play with, in fact Mia and Francesca were beginning to be inseparable!

Tony wasn't sure why he hadn't told the team. Part of him worried that they would laugh at him and tell him he couldn't raise a child. Another part of him realised that he would never be treated the same, he didn't think he could deal with the NCIS family changing. In his head Tony knew that they were all stupid reasons but there had simply never been a good time to tell them, the longer he left it the harder it became.

Tony did want to share Mia with the world though, he was immensely proud of her. Mia was a already a beauty. Maybe Tony saw her through rose tinted glasses, but in his mind he knew she was going to have boys throwing themselves at her feet as she grew up. She had tanned, coffee coloured skin and dark, chocolate hair that fell to her slim shoulders in delicate waves. She had inherited her mothers deep brown spanish eyes and heart shaped face but had also been blessed with the DiNozzo smile, a mixture of charm, humour and mischievousness. Mia had a magnetic smile, if she smiled, everyone else smiled with her. Mia truly was something special.

NCIS - the bullpen

Their current case was fairly cut and shut, all the evidence suggested suicide, the sailor had financial debts, a sour divorce and had recently been demoted for poor conduct. The autopsy report agreed with their suspicions, leaving the team to simply fill out the crippling amount of paperwork associated with closing a case.

Tony was boredly pelting McGee with paper pellets, ignoring McGee's mutters about 'immaturity' and 'childishness'. Ziva was attempting to stifle her giggles as she watched Tony throw various missiles at McGees head.

"Tony, quit it alright" said McGee irritatedly, brushing paper pellets out of his hair, "some people are actually trying to finish their reports" he finished with a glance at the elevator, as if he expected Gibbs to stride in at any moment.

"For your information McProbie, Tony has finished all his reports" Tony said proudly with a slight smirk at McGees surprised.

"How" stuttered McGee, "you've spent the last half hour throwing paper balls at me!" he said incredulously.

"Work smarter not harder" grinned Tony shuffling the papers on his desk.

McGee was busy trying to think if a comeback when a telephone rang shattering the silence.

"Very special agent Anthony DiNozzo speaking!" Tony said animatedly picking up the phone happily.

"Tony it's Maria" said a tearful voice on the end of the telephone.

"Maria what's wrong, is Mia ok?" whispered Tony nervously, his to e of voice completely changing, drawing attention from his colleagues.

"Mia's fine" cried Maria as Tony let out an audible sigh of relief, "it's Dan, he's been in an accident and I need to get to the hospital" she stuttered between sobs, "Jamie and Francesca are at Dan's parents but I can't take Mia to the hospital so I'm here at the navy yard, I'm downstairs with Mia, can you come and get her" Maria babbled breathlessly.

"Of course" Tony gushed seriously, "I'll be right down".

Tony quickly got out of his chair as Ziva and McGee bombarded him with questions.

"Jealous husband?" asked Ziva.

"Ex-girlfriend?" questioned McGee.

"I'll be back in a minute" said Tony sending the pair withering looks before turning and practically running to the elevator.

NCIS - the entrance

"Mia" Tony cried as he scooped the tiny, confused girl into his arms. Holding Mia on his hip Tony began to ask Maria what was going on.

Maria appeared to know very little about what had happened, she had simply had a phone call telling her that Dan had been taken to hospital and she should arrive as soon as possible.

"Are you ok to drive?" Tony asked quietly, taking in Maria's tearful state.

"My friend is giving me a lift" she stuttered quietly, sending a swift smile up at Tony.

"I'm sure he will be fine" Tony whispered quietly before giving her a kiss on the cheek and a quick smile.

Maria smiled before turning and heading out the doors to a waiting car.

Tony stood in the foyer of the navy yard, Mia in his arms wondering what on earth to do next.

"Mia" he said seriously, placing the tiny girl in front of him and bending down so he was at her eye level. "Daddy has to work, so I'm going to take you to stay with a friend" he said watching her nod. "She might look a little bit funny but I promise you that Abby is very nice." he finished with a grin. His first choice of childminder would have been Ducky, but there was always the chance she would find a body and that wasn't something Tony was going to risk!

"Now" said Tony, taking in the intense look in his daughters eyes, she looked like she was trying to absorb every word he said, "don't call me daddy and if you need to talk to me- chat in Italian" he finished ruffling her soft waves and waiting for a response.

"Si" murmured Mia with a smile, at home Mia spoke a garbled mix of Spanish, Italian and English, however as she had got older she had finally learnt to stick to one language at a time.

"Grazie, Mia ina, tesoro" Tony murmured happily, holding onto his daughters hand and leading her to the elevator.

As they walked into Abby's lab the deafening sound of heavy metal reached their ears. Mia comically put her hand over her ears and drew herself into Tonys shadow, peering out to see a tall girl with really big shoes and a spiky collar typing something onto a computer.

Tony coughed loudly to announce his presence in the room and Abby quickly spun round before running towards Tony to pull him into a hug. Just before se reached Tony though, she noticed the small hand gripping onto Tony's and consequently the small person attached.

"Er Tony" squeaked Abby confusedly, " there's a girl holding your hand?" she stated, leaving Tony trying to work out if he was supposed to reply to the statement.

Finally deciding that Abby wasn't actually as scary as she thought, Mia stepped in front of Tony and introduced herself.

"Hi I'm Mia" she smiled, pointing to her chest proudly, "I like your pigtails!" she added with a brilliant beam.

Abby cheerfully smiled back before turning to look at Tony curiously, that smile was way too familiar.

"Abby" said Tony with a deep breath, "meet Mia - Mia DiNozzo".


	2. Abby is Ace!

a/n: wow. I cannot tell you how overwhelmed I am by the response to this story! It spurred me to write another chapter really quickly. Honestly I am not 100% sure where I am going with this story. I could go down the classic tiva path or I could try a case file to do with Dan (marias husband) that Mia somehow is involved in it I could just do stand alone chapters of the team and Mia :)

I want to know what you readers think :) so please review or pm me with your views :D hope you enjoy...

**NCIS – Abby's Lab**

Abby cheerfully smiled back before turning to look at Tony curiously, that smile was way too familiar.

"Abby" said Tony with a deep breath, "meet Mia - Mia DiNozzo".

The music continued to play but the air in the room was completely still as Abby processed what Tony had just said.

Slowly Abby's look of confusion turned into a small smile.

"How old is she" Abby asked quietly, her brain whirring as she tried to convince herself she wasn't dreaming.

"I'm six and one quarter" said Mia confidently holding up six short fingers proudly.

"Wow" said Abby feigning an impressed expression, "how come I've never seen you before" she said with a smile at Mia before sending a glare in Tony's direction clearly showing that the questions was sent towards him.

"I'm a secret" said Mia loudly as Tony rolled his eyes.

"Why on Earth would Tony keep someone as pretty as you a secret?" asked Abby quietly, speaking to the pair equally now.

This time Mia had no answer for Abby so turned to look up at Tony expectantly.

"Well… I don't know" stuttered Tony, flattering under the gazes of the two seemingly scary girls in front; he'd rather face a street take down than Abby and Mia aright now!

"Anyways" said Tony, changing the subject, "I need you to look after Mia for a while so I can finish off upstairs, things have become a little… complicated" he trailed off glancing Abby to see her reaction.

"Where's her mom" Abby asked confusedly, not noticing how both Tony and Mia's faces crumbled slightly at her words.

"She's with Kate, Abby" Tony said quietly wrapping his arm around his daughter and pulling her in close.

Abby understood and her expression of shock quickly turned into one of sadness.

"So you need me to keep Mia company?" asked Abby, flicking an imaginary switch to put a bright smile on her face, a show of happiness just for Mia.

Tony nodded and pushed Mia forward to stand next to Abby.

"See you guys later then" he said waving jovially at the two girls left in the lab, both looking a little lost, "Oh and by the way Abby" he added in a dramatic stage whisper, childishly putting a finger over his mouth "she's a secret."

**NCIS – Bullpen**

"Ah Tony is back" cried Ziva s Tony tried to sneak back to his desk as quietly as possible.

"Where did you go Tony" McGee asked curiously, watching Tony to see if he could pick up any clues as to why the agent had left so suddenly.

"Yeah DiNozzo" said Gibbs, striding past and delivering a swift "thwack" to the back of the head, "where did you go".

"And who's Maria" added Ziva.

"or Mia?" asked McGee, drawing a glare from Tony.

"er, Ex girlfriend, you know" Tony stuttered, struggling for words in a very un-Tonyish way, "gone a bit crazy after I ended it" Tony continued gaining momentum with every word. "Well actually McSingle" he added with a mischievous DiNozzo grin, "you probably don't" he finished with a chuckle ignoring McGee's affronted expression.

"And that took you ten minutes did it?" Ziva asked disbelievingly, not wholly convinced by Tony's story.

"I went to see Abby", Tony replied with a confident smile, "you can call her and check if you don't believe me" he finished smugly, picking up his finished case report and walking over to deposit it on Gibbs' desk.

"Whatever DiNozzo" Gibbs said nonchalantly flicking absentmindedly through Tony's report, "go down visit Ducky and see if the autopsy report is finished".

"On it boss" Tony said heading towards the elevator happily, while he was down there he could check on Mia and make sure Abby was coping alright with his bored 6 year old.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him and quickly spun around to see McGee standing behind him.

"I've got to see Abby so I thought I'd come down with you" said McGee, not noticing Tony's dismayed expression.

Tony didn't say a word as the pair stepped into the elevator; in fact he was lost in thoughts of what to tell McGee when he saw Mia. He was going to tell McGee but not now. Not yet.

As the pair disappeared between the grey doors of the elevator, Ziva turned to Gibbs and began to speak.

"I do not believe Tony is being truthful" stated Ziva bluntly, "he would not have looked that upset over an ex-girlfriend, something does not calculate up".

"Add up Ziva" murmured Gibbs with a hint of amusement in his voice, "I wouldn't worry about it though Ziva, lots of things about DiNozzo don't add up".

**NCIS – Abby's Lab**

Palmer and Ducky hadn't quite finished the autopsy report so McGee and Tony quickly headed to visit Abby.

As they walked in the first thing that struck Tony was the noise, the music that normally sent tremors through the basement had been turned off and the air was filled with the sounds of Mia's animated voice and Abby's uncontrollable laughter. Tony's face broke into a beaming smile.

"Tony, McGee" Abby squealed, skipping over to engulf the pair in a bone-crushing hug. "McGee meet Mia, Mia meet McGee".

McGee awkwardly stuck his hand out to shake hands with the unimpressed six year old standing infront of him. Mia reluctantly shook his hand before pointing at herself and introducing herself once again.

"Mia" she said proudly puffing out her chest.

"I'm Tim" McGee replied, still confused at who this girl was and why she looked so familiar.

"You can call him Timmy though" interrupted Tony loydly, "or Probie, or McGoo or anything really, he doesn't really mind does he McLovable" Tony said, jovially clapping a hand on Tim's shoulder.

Abby then noticed that McGee was wondering who Mia was and realized that now was the chance to explain before he asked her something she couldn't answer.

"Mia is my friend's daughter" Abby said confidently, acknowledging the thankful look that Tony shot her. Tony wad subconsciously edging closer to Mia so that he could stand next to her. "There was a complication so she's staying with me for a bit! Isn't that great!" she finished with a bright smile.

McGee looked significantly less puzzled until a look of confusement crossed his face again.

"Wait is this the same Mia Tony was talking about on the phone" he asked curiously, glancing across at Tony.

"Nah it's just a popular name" Tony said as convincingly as he could hoping McGee would let it slide. Thankfully McGee looked convinced and Tony let out a silent sigh of relief.

"So do you want to see what me and Mia have been upto?" Abby asked excitedly. Pulling Tony and McGee over to a large desk.

"We've had a really cool time Tony" cried Mia happily, suppressing a giggle at the fact she was calling her dad Tony. "We made patterns out of fingerprints and took goofy pictures of ourselves for the plasma thingy" Mia gushed, glancing up at the screen which showcased a huge picture of Abby and Mia pulling funny faces together. "It was spl-en-did" she continued, drawing out her favourite word, "and, also Tony, Abbys gonna do my hair in pigtails now" she finished, her brown eyes sparkling as she grinned at Abby, "Abbys ace!".

Tony simply beamed back at Mia, it looked like Mia and Abby were already best buds.


	3. Movie Night Telling the Team

a/n:hello again! I'm not entirely happy with this chapter so it might get edited later but the gist will stay the same J

Thank you for your reviews they always make me smile- the critical one as much as the amazing positive ones I get!Hope oyu enjoy,

Thalia

McGee was watching Tony and Mia interact with immense curiosity. Mia clearly adored Tony even though they must have only just met, however this didn't surprise him entirely, in McGee's experience- everybody liked Tony.

What surprised him though was the attention Tony was giving back. Over the years McGee had been able to distinguish whether whether Tony was tuning in, for example if Gibbs or a suspect were speaking, or whether he was tuning out, for example to medical advice, moaning neighbors or McGee.

McGee had expected Tony to be somewhere in the middle with the little girl but he had been proved wrong. Tony was giving the girl his undivided attention, a sight that Tim rarely saw. Tony definitely had met the girl before. Maybe Abby had introduced them previously?

Why hasn't Abby introduced Mia to him first?

McGee's mind was whirring as he wondered what Tony knew about the girl. Whatever impression McGee had given, he wasn't convinced that the Abby's Mia wasn't the Mia from the phone. Something McGee had learnt over the years was that rule #39 was usually true. There's no such thing as coincidences.

As Tony and McGee silently rode the elevator back to the bullpen, McGees mind wasn't the only one whirring. Tony was processing the afternoons events, Mia clearly loved Abby and Abby already adored Mia, why not introduce her to the rest of the team? Tony stepped out of the elevator buzzing- tomorrow was the day, he would gather up the whole team and spill his secret.

**NCIS - The Bullpen **

As McGee and Tony wandered into the bullpen Ziva's head shot up.

"How was Abby?" Ziva asked good-naturedly, looking at McGee and Tony.

"Fine" said Tim carefully, as Tony sat down at his desk silently. "She's looking after someone's kid down there".

A sly smile slid onto Ziva's face, this child might be to do with Tony Ziva thought as she peered at Tony who was silent, his face a blank canvass. This alone was reason for suspicion, a quiet Tony was a always a suspicious Tony.

Gibbs on the other hand seemed completely uninterested in the child in the lab. He simply raised an eyebrow in Tony's direction before taking a sip of coffee and continuing to fill in the endless forms.

As he sat at his desk Tony typed out a text to Abby, after looking after his daughter all afternoon he figured that Abby deserved an explanation, an explanation that couldn't wait until tomorrow morning.

_Abs, _

_Movie night tonight? Me, you, Mia? I'll explain everything. _

_Tony _

Short and sweet but to the point.

Quickly after Tony sent the text, his phone flashed again indicating that Abby had replied, _that was a good start at least. _

_Tony_

_Sounds like a plan_

_You have some explaining to do Mister_

_I'll be at your apartment for 6_

_Abby _

Tony breathed a sigh of relief and smiled to himself, if Abby was willing to come to watch a movie she couldn't be too mad.

The time until they could leave went even slower than usual thanks to Tonys boredom and the curious glances McGee and Ziva kept shooting at him, occasionally Gibbs would look over at him interestedly but all in all he didn't seem overly perplexed.

After what seemed like hours of waiting Gibbs finally declared that they could head home.

Tony realised that he couldn't be seen taking Mia home so decided to head down to Abby's as casually as possible.

Luckily for Tony, both Ziva and McGee had places to be that evening so had to go home. If they hadn't had plans Tony wouldn't have been surprised if they had followed him home until they worked out his secret. Although he had resigned himself to the fact that they were going to find out, he wanted to be the one to tell them.

**Tony (and Mia's) Apartment **

Tony wasn't going to lie, he was nervous. Sometimes Abby scared him to death and now was one of those moments.

Normally he and Abby went for horror movies full of blood and gore but with a six year old in the room he didn't think that would be the best idea. He decided to let Mia choose the movie on the basis that she had had a confusing day and desrerved a treat; however Tony had also considered the fact that Abby was unlikely to be annoyed with a six year old for picking a movie she didn't like.

At 6pm on the dot someone knocked on the door, Tony opened the door to see Abby standing outside holding a pizza.

"Hey Tony" Abby said with an overly sweet smile, "I brought pizza".

Tony grinned. However annoyed Abby was if she had brought pizza it couldn't be too bad.

"What toppings?" Tony asked eagerly, a wide smile on his face as he tried to lift the lid to peek inside the box.

"Vegetable!" Abby said happily, smiling wider as Tonys face fell.

"I don't like vegetable?" Tony whined childishly as he saw Abby's wide smile.

"I do, and Mia does" Abby replied with a smile at Mia who was lying on the sofa watching the pair interestedly. "It's healthy too!" added Abby with a sly smile before wandering over to the sofa to sitting down next to Mia.

"What the point of a healthy pizza" Tony muttered as he stalked over to the other, less comfortable sofa, the cogs in Tonys mind were working nineteen to the dozen. Why did Abby bring a vegetable pizza? He wondered as he watched Abby and Mia tuck in as Mia explained animatedly to Abby what film they were going to watch.

Suddenly Tony realised what was going on and a small smile crept onto his face. This was Abby's revenge, she was going to deny him pizza, his favourite couch and the attention of his daughter. Abby was good, she knew where to hit Tony where it hurt.

As it turned out Tony had a great evening. Although he wouldn't ever admit it, Toy Story was one of Tony's favourite films and he simply kicked back and enjoyed the movie. The thing that really made the evening special though was the way that Abby and Mia interacted together, they chatted and giggled together as if they had known each other their entire lives. Tony and Abby also took a break in the kitchen half way through so that he cold explain and Abby could ask questions about Tony and Mia's life. Abby had lots of questions but Tony knew it was worth answering them properly, Abby deserved to know everything.

When it was time for Abby to leave Tony said the thing he had wanted to say all evening.

"Thanks Abby" Tony said seriously , the emotion behind the statement flickering in his eyes showing that he was thanking her for more than just a movie night.

"No probs Tony" Abby replied quietly with a small smile, "just no more secrets" she added with a wider smile engulfing Tony and Mia in a giant hug. That was the hug Tony had been hoping for all evening, the hug that said everything was forgiven. Tony just hoped the rest of the team were as understanding...

NCIS - The Bullpen (the next morning)

If Tony had felt nervous last night, it was nothing to how he felt this morning. As he walked into the bullpen holding onto his hand his heart was thumping in his chest painfully hard. Tony DiNozzo was scared.

Tony had brought Mia into work with him so she could meet the team, he also had no one to look after her in the day, it was a Saturday so no school and Maria was still at the hospital waiting for Dan to wake up.

He had considered finding a babysitter for the day invade the teams reactions were less than child friendly. He also didn't want Mia to see her dad beaten up by a girl if Ziva reacted badly.

However he had decided in the end that Mia needed to meet the team and that the team needed to meet Mia so here they were, ready to tell the secret.

Tony had sent a text and email to all the team (including Ducky and Palmer) telling them to come to the bullpen as soon as possible because he had a surprise for them, he hasn't bothered to send one to Gibbs because he knew it would be a pointless venture, he just hoped that Gibbs would turn up on time so the team wouldn't have to wait an age.

Thankfully Gibbs arrived with his coffee only seconds after Palmer and Ducky had appeared so no one had had to wait. Gibbs looked unfazed by the gathering in the bullpen and correctly guessed it had something to do with the girl currently spinning herself around in Tonys chair.

"Okay everyone" Tony started with a nervous grin, "I have a surprise for you" he stuttered losing confidence as he continued. "This" he said bringing the dizzy looking girl to stand next to him as he took a deep breath, "is Mia DiNozzo, my daughter".

The bullpen was silent. Abby simply grinned. Ziva, McGee and Palmers jaws dropped in stunned silence as they stared at the little girl standing next to Tony.

Gibbs and Ducky looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. To be honest, their reaction had been quite controlled, they didn't even look particularly surprised. In a way Tony was upset by their reaction, they should care more about the fact he had a daughter, this was a big deal.

"DiNozzo with me" said Gibbs, heading towards the elevator. Now he was in trouble.

Tony followed Gibbs across the elevator whispering to Mia to "introduce herself" before smiling at her, nodding at Abby. He knew he could rely on Abby to look after

Mia.

**NCIS – The Elevator**

"What made you tell us?" asked Gibbs as they stepped into the elevator, the doors closing behind them.

"erm well" Tony stuttered, trying to put his finger on what made up his mind, "well you know" he mumbled until something struck him. "Wait" he said, "you already knew" Tony asked, his eyes growing wide.

Gibbs grinned a grin that Tony had never seen before, "I'm an investigator Tony, of course I knew!"


End file.
